Forever Love. 🖤

24

Toni

We arrived at the hospital in less than twenty minutes. Tamar and I ran inside. "Where is she Tay? Do you know?" I asked.

"Just follow me girl." Tamar said as she went to the nearest elevator.

I followed. I tried to catch my breath in the elevator but my nerves were shot.

"You sure she's fine Tamar?" I asked as I wiped my tears again.

"Sis, stop it! She does not need to see you crying." Tamar embraced me as the elevator doors opened. "Come on."

We walked straight to the waiting room area. Kenneth and Gil were there.

"Kenny, what happened? Where is she? What are the doctors saying? " I asked.

"Toni, breathe. She was in a pretty bad car accident.. right now they took her to get her labs and X-rays done. Nobody has been able to see her just yet but nurses and doctors have been updating us every hour." Kenneth said as he hugged me.

"I just want to see her. I need to see her right now." I said as I began to cry on him.

I felt comforted as Tamar and Gil formed a group hug with Kenny and I. "She's okay, I know this is scary but it's alright." Gil said.

As the hug broke out, I took a deep sigh and got myself together. I sat down in a seat as I stared at the floor... waiting for the next update on her condition.

Janet

I was in a great deal of pain. Did I really just get in a car accident or am I just dreaming? It doesn't really hit you, until it actually hits you.

My body was sore, I was exhausted. My eyes and lips were swollen from the impact as well as a my entire body throbbing. Even with the excruciating pain, I felt blessed because my life was spared.

I was in a neck brace and fully restricted to the bed. I couldn't move anything even if I wanted to.

I laid in my hospital bed staring at the ceiling. I needed Toni, I wanted Toni. I don't know who kept coming into my room but every time I felt a presence I would try my best to scream out Toni's name.

"Ms. Jackson, the doctor has ordered lab work with a CT Scan and a few X-rays so we're going on a little ride." A female voice said. It was the nurse I'm guessing, she seemed so happy.

I attempted to say Toni's name again but it came out as if I was saying something else.

"Toni? She's in the waiting room! We're going to bring her here once we're finished with your scans." The nurse said as she began to roll me out of my room.

The whole X-Ray process was such a blur. All I saw was a ceiling, the inside of a machine, then a ceiling again. An interesting but quiet journey.

As the nurse took me back to my room, I tried to say Toni's name one last time.

"Yes baby? I'm here!" She said back to me.

Toni

The doctors let me into Janet's room while she was having her scans done. I began pacing the floor waiting for her to come.

Suddenly, the nurse opened the door and pushed her bed in. I froze as I heard her attempting to say my name which led me to respond with: "Yes baby? I'm here!"

She looked terrible, seeing her in that condition made me want to cry so bad. Once the bed was in place I went over to her and stood there.

"My baby.." I said as my eyes began to water. I kissed on her forehead as the doctor came in.

"Hello! I'm Doctor L-"

"Hi. Why is she in a neck brace? Can she hear me? Is she paralyzed? Why can't she talk correctly?" I cut in.

"Okay.. straight to the point. We've decided to put Janet in a neck brace to stabilize her neck and back, we don't know how severe her injuries are yet until the X-ray comes back and in the mean time we don't want to risk her ability to walk. She can hear you, there are no damage to her ears." The doctor responded.

"Okay. Is there brain damage? Is that why she can't talk?"

"As of right now, she is not showing any signs of brain damage but you never know in some cases. We won't know for sure until her CT Scans come back. I actually came in here to check that." The doctor approached Janet as he put on a pair of gloves. He pulled back her bottom lip as he examined her. "Janet can you open your mouth as wide as you can?" He asked as he removed his hands.

She did so, very slowly. He examined as he nodded his head. "Yep, that's what I thought."

"What did you think?" I asked.

"It appears that on the left side of her mouth, her jaw is completely swollen. Now this is typically normal due to the impact she took on the crash so I'm going to prescribe something for that. The swelling should go down in a week or two but until then we're going to monitor it closely." He said as he took off his gloves. "Are there anymore questions?"

"Who hit her?" I asked bluntly as I made eye contact with the doctor.

"Due to confidentiality, I am not allowed to disclose that information with you."

"Can you tell me if they're alive or dead?"

"Right now, they're in critical condition."

"Mm." I looked back at Janet as I placed another kiss on her forehead.

"That's all I needed to discuss with you guys. If you need anything just press that button." He said as he pointed to the button. "Once we get the scans and tests back, I'll come and update you so we can discuss recovery."

"Thank you." I said as he left the room.

I took a deep sigh as I looked at Janet. She was drifting to sleep. I leaned down to her ear and whispered: "I'm so glad you're okay. You need to get some rest. I'll be right here at this couch next to your bed, don't think I left you. I love you so much, goodnight."

I kissed her swollen lips gently then walked over to the couch. I laid down facing Janet's bed as she slowly went to sleep. I stayed in that position wide awake the entire night. Truth be told, I wasn't going to sleep comfortably any time soon.